By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
@GalloImages.
The alliance partners in KwaZulu-Natal – the ANC, SACP, Sanco and Cosatu – held summit to ensure services were delivered in the province.
The ANC in KwaZulu-Natal lost 30 of its MPLs and has gone from 44 members to just 14.
The May 29 elections were a bloodbath for the ANC. uMkhonto weSizwe Party won 37 seats in the 80-member provincial legislature, while the IFP got 15 seats, the ANC 14, the DA 11, the EFF two, and the NFP one.
Former ANC policy head Jeff Radebe made a powerful political return after being appointed as convenors to lead the revival of the party provincial structure.
In 2019, Radebe was not reappointed to the Cabinet by President Cyril Ramaphosa, marking the end of his tenure in government. In 2022, he lost his position in the ANC’s National Executive Committee (NEC).
The spending habits of some municipalities were flagged recently by the Office of the Auditor General during its meeting with Scopa in the KZN legislature. The AGSA revealed that some municipalities are spending their way into ruin, indicating that some of them often allocate a portion of next year’s budget in the current financial year.
An improvement has been noted in the percentage of targets achieved, increasing from 74.58% to 83.93% in the current performance period. “However, the non-correlation of targets achieved and budget spent remains a concern, as fiscal pressures require a more efficient approach to service delivery.”
The non-achievement of key service delivery targets poses significant risks relating to insufficient access to water, sanitation, electricity, and waste management services, leading to deteriorating living conditions. Residents and communities may lose trust in local government, leading to protests, service delivery strikes, and civil unrest.
The party said it has finalised the process of establishing an interim leadership structure across all eleven regions of the province.
The provincial task team coordinator Mike Mabuyakhulu said the process to appoint a new regional task team had been completed but the party will publicly announce the names next week after formally informing branches.
“In line with the ANC protocols, we are not going to announce the names of the people that will lead our regions as task teams before informing our branches first. Next week we will begin that process and announce the names,” said Mabuyakhulu.
Although all the regions’ terms had already expired, the party had an option to retain the regional committees until the next elective conference.
EThekwini, which is the only metro in the province and one of the largest regions in the country, with a voting population of close to two million, is the party’s main strategic point.
Fullview learnt that Zandile Gumede will not be part of the soon-to-be announced new regional task team.
In the leaked list, Gumede who is currently on trial for corruption involving the R320 million Durban Solid Waste tender scandal, has been left out of the regional task team and the additional members list.
After she was arrested and charged for corruption, Gumede was subsequently removed from her mayoral position in 2018 and was also placed on the party’s step aside policy, which effectively stripped her of her political powers.
However, in 2022 she made a strong comeback when her faction elected her as regional chairperson, although she was absent from the conference because of the step aside rule.